Search

On December 23, 2024, the Competition Bureau (Bureau) published updated guidelines (the Draft Guidelines) with respect to the application of Canada's new Competition Act (CA) greenwashing provisions enacted last June. [...]

Recent Competition Bureau Guidance on the Amendments to Canada's Competition Act For those keeping score at home, the Canadian Competition Act has gone through three rounds of substantial amendments over [...]

As we have discussed in a prior bulletin and a more detailed analysis, Canada's Competition Act was recently amended to both (i) establish a new, more expansive framework for challenging [...]

Two years ago, Cineplex started charging some moviegoers $1.50 extra to buy a ticket online. The Competition Bureau saw deceptive marketing. The bureau for decades was an afterthought. Today it [...]

Advertising and marketing has been the subject of increased regulatory scrutiny following amendments made to the Competition Act within the last three years. Most notable among these changes are the [...]

In August, the Federal Trade Commission (the 'FTC'), the federal U.S. agency equivalent to Canada's Competition Bureau, issued a rule (the 'Rule') to combat fake reviews and testimonials. The Rule [...]

The Competition Bureau (the 'Bureau') recently published interim guidance (the 'Guidance') outlining its preliminary enforcement approach to competitor property controls under the Competition Act (the 'Act'). The Guidance was published [...]

Following recent amendments to the Competition Act (the 'Act'),1 the Competition Bureau (the 'Bureau') released preliminary property control guidelines ('PPCGs') describing its planned enforcement approach for 'property controls' in commercial [...]

On June 20, 2024, the Government of Canada passed Bill C-59 amending certain provisions in the Competition Act (the 'Act'). In particular, in an effort to protect consumers from misleading [...]

Byline: JEFFREY JONES; Staff The Competition Bureau has published guidance on what might constitute corporate greenwashing as it begins consultations over how it will implement Ottawa's contentious new measures aimed [...]

Byline: GRANT BISHOP Calgary-based founder of KnightFork, which builds data-driven tools for carbon pricing and the energy transition A new 'greenwashing' rule hastily crammed into the Competition Act last week [...]

On June 5, 2024, the Competition Bureau (the 'Bureau') announced that they had come to an agreement with Sirius XM Canada, a Canadian broadcasting company which distributes the American satellite [...]

That groceries are expensive these days or that the grocery market is controlled by a few large companies isn't breaking news. So it verges on stating the obvious when the [...]

Byline: MATTHEW BOSWELL Commissioner of the Competition Bureau Canada has a deep history with monopolies. This dates back to even before we were a country, when the Hudson's Bay charter [...]

The Competition Bureau of Canada (the 'Bureau') is an independent federal law enforcement agency which aims to protect and promote competition for the benefit of Canadian consumers and businesses. The [...]

Bottom Line On 30 May 2023, Canada's Competition Bureau released its Enforcement Guidelines (the 'Guidelines') on the Federal Government's recent amendments to the Competition Act which, commencing on 23 June [...]

Bottom Line On May 30, 2023, Canada's Competition Bureau released its Enforcement Guidelines (the 'Guidelines') on the Federal Government's recent amendments to the Competition Act which, commencing on June 23, [...]

April/May 2023 In this edition: New criminal no poach and wage fixing prohibitions take effect soon, Competition Bureau commences drip pricing application against Cineplex, Commissioner of Competition continues campaign for [...]

The Competition Bureau (the 'Bureau') recently released a new volume of its Deceptive Marketing Practices Digest (the 'Digest'). The purpose of the Digest is to provide businesses with guidance on [...]

Byline: LEONARD WAVERMAN Formerly the dean of the DeGroote School of Business at McMaster University and the Haskayne School of Business at the University of Calgary. He is a former [...]

Byline: KELDON BESTER Co-founder of the Canadian Anti-Monopoly Project and a fellow at the Centre for International Governance Innovation Where is Paul Martin when you need him? In the late [...]

The Competition Bureau in October embarked on a study of food prices at grocery stores. As everyone knows, in this year of inflation, the bill for groceries has jumped 10 [...]

On November 17, 2022, the Honourable François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, launched the much anticipated public consultation for potential amendments to the Competition Act (the 'Act'). As [...]

On March 3, 2023, the Competition Tribunal ('Tribunal') published an information note advising that it had granted in part the application pursuant to section 92 of the Competition Act (Canada) [...]

The Competition Bureau has released draft guidelines (the Guidelines) setting out its planned enforcement approach to the recent Competition Act amendment criminalizing wage-fixing and no-poaching agreements. The Guidelines provide helpful [...]

Overview On Jan. 18, 2023, the Canadian Competition Bureau (the Bureau) issued draft enforcement guidelines on wage-fixing and no-poaching agreements (the Guidelines) that describe how the Bureau plans to enforce [...]

Byline: ERIC ATKINS; Staff Canada's competition watchdog says WestJet Airlines' proposed takeover of Sunwing Airlines and Sunwing Vacations will lead to higher airfares and fewer options for travellers. The Competition [...]

As we reported in a previous issue of this newsletter, in June 2022, the Canadian government enacted amendments to the Competition Act (the Act) intended to prohibit agreements between and [...]

When Bill C-19, Budget Implementation Act, 2022, No. 1 received Royal Assent in June 2022, it amended Canada's Competition Act(Act) by including a new provision, s. 45(1.1), which comes into [...]

On January 18, 2023, Canada's Competition Bureau (Bureau) published, in draft, highly anticipated guidance (Draft Guidance) outlining its views on the new criminal prohibition against agreements or arrangements between unaffiliated [...]

On October 25, 2022, the Competition Bureau published its new Information Bulletin on Transparency, which explains the approach the Bureau will take when communicating with different groups of people during [...]

McMillan is authoring a number of bulletins to assist clients in navigating the quickly developing regulatory regime surrounding ESG issues. An introductory bulletin can be found here. This bulletin focuses [...]

Byline: SHANE DINGMAN, Staff TORONTO -- Lead THE LISTING Almost 10 years after it began investigating an alleged price-fixing scheme that affected close to $20million worth of condominium renovations, the [...]

Byline: JAREN KERR, Staff Lead The head of the federal Competition Bureau says Canadian competition law needs a makeover, and that Canada should take cues from the U.S. in reforming [...]

On February 8, 2022, the Competition Bureau released several recommendations for amending the Competition Act in its response to Senator Wetston's call for submissions on Canada's competition policy framework. The [...]

Byline: VASS BEDNAR, ROBIN SHABAN Lead Vass Bednar is executive director of McMaster University's master of public policy in digital society. Robin Shaban is principal at Vivic Research. Canada's Competition [...]

In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, Canadians have increasingly turned to digital means to access and obtain health care services. The promotion of competition and innovation in Canada's health sector [...]

Welcome to the March issue of Blakes Competitive Edge, a monthly publication of the Blakes Competition, Antitrust & Foreign Investment group. Blakes Competitive Edge provides an overview of recent developments [...]

On November 27, 2020, the Competition Bureau released a statement regarding the application of the Competition Act to no-poaching, wage-fixing and other agreements among competitors relating to the purchase of [...]

On December 3, 2020, the Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology hosted a committee briefing on the Office of the Competition Bureau of Canada. The Commissioner of Competition, Matthew [...]

This past Friday, the Canadian Competition Bureau (the Bureau) released a statement on the application of the Competition Act (the Act) to buy-side agreements such as no-poaching and wage-fixing agreements. [...]

On November 27, 2020, the Canadian Competition Bureau clarified its view that the criminal cartel provisions of the Competition Act do not apply to agreements between competitors with respect to [...]

In a recent news release, the Competition Bureau ('Bureau') made official its intention to increase the resources it devotes to the identification and review of non-notifiable merger transactions. The announcement [...]

Antitrust commentators are questioning the continuing significance of immunity and leniency programs that have been at the forefront of anti-cartel enforcement internationally since the U.S. Department of Justice introduced the [...]

Hudson's Bay Company has agreed to pay an administrative monetary penalty of $4,000,000 and $500,000 towards Competition Bureau costs to resolve a proceeding which started in 2017 relating to Hudson's [...]

I. New Head of Competition Bureau's Vision: Active Enforcement in the Digital Age On May 8, 2019, McCarthy Tétrault was proud to host Matthew Boswell, the newly-appointed Commissioner of Canada's [...]

Canadian Commissioner of Competition Matthew Boswell provided the keynote address at the Canadian Bar Association's Competition Law Spring Conference in Toronto on May 7, 2019. Commissioner Boswell was appointed for [...]

As an independent federal law enforcement agency, the Competition Bureau (the 'Bureau') seeks to ensure that Canadian business and consumers prosper in a competitive and innovative marketplace. Keeping with its [...]

In this Update On March 7, 2019, the Competition Bureau (Bureau) released updated Abuse of Dominance Enforcement Guidelines. The Guidelines provide a detailed outline of the Bureau's approach to the [...]